Hi, I’m Chris Walton, author of this guide and CEO of Eton Venture Services.
I’ve spent much of my career working as a corporate transactional lawyer at Gunderson Dettmer, becoming an expert in tax law & venture financing. Since starting Eton, I’ve completed thousands of business valuations for companies of all sizes.
Read my full bio here.
As a startup founder or CEO, there might come a time when you need advice that isn’t available within your core team.
In such cases, rather than hiring in-house, you can choose to work with external consultants who can bridge that knowledge gap while still keeping your startup lean.
In my 15 years as a business valuation advisor for startup founders, I’ve often seen them form a “startup advisory board”—a panel of consultants and experts who offer advice as needed.
Unlike a formal board of directors, an advisory board provides strategic guidance without governance duties.
This means you get valuable insights and support without having to deal with the rules and responsibilities of a formal board.
But finding the right advisors can be tricky, especially if you need expertise in various areas.
To help you build the best advisory board, in this article I recommend 11 advisors in different expertise areas, from business valuations to content marketing.
When choosing a startup advisory service provider, make sure they have the following:
Here are my best recommendations for each type of advisory you need as a startup founder:
If your startup is raising funding, issuing stock options, or preparing for a transaction, Eton Venture Services brings the specialized expertise these milestones demand.
We’ve worked with startups at every stage and delivered fast, audit-ready sale valuations, 409A valuations stock option guidance, and M&A support without the inflated cost or timelines of larger firms.
Led by former Big 4 consultants and attorneys from top law firms, our team combines legal fluency with deep financial expertise to help you stay compliant, make informed equity decisions, and secure stronger deals.
You work directly with experienced professionals who understand what’s at stake, and get audit-ready deliverables that stand up to board, investor, and IRS review.
Here are three reasons people choose Eton Venture Services:
Startups and growing companies can’t afford to wait weeks or overspend on slow, bloated valuation and advisory services. As a boutique firm, Eton delivers those services in days, not months, all at affordable prices.
Backed by extensive experience across thousands of engagements, we bring a deep understanding of how valuation, equity, and deal dynamics influence key startup decisions, and we’re committed to delivering defensible work that aligns with what matters most at each stage.
So, while the process is fast and affordable, the quality remains uncompromised. Every engagement is built to:
With Eton, your work isn’t outsourced, handed off to junior staff, or built by automated tools. Every valuation, equity review, and transaction is led by senior professionals, including the CEO, who stay involved from start to finish.
Unlike firms that rely on automation or rigid templates, Eton takes a hands-on approach built around real human judgment. This means:
You can also count on every question getting answered quickly and your advisor being just one call or email away to keep things moving without disruption.
Over the past 15 years, Eton has completed more than 10,000 valuations, M&A advisory projects, and stock option analyses. This track record reflects deep technical expertise and a proven ability to handle the complexities that come with funding, growth, and exit planning.
We’ve worked with companies at every stage, from newly funded startups to market leaders like Perplexity and Pinterest, so we understand how investor terms, equity structures, and transaction goals evolve over time.
This breadth of experience helps us:
The result is startup advisory that’s grounded in real-world experience across thousands of successful engagements.
Check out this testimonial from Paul Sciarra, Executive Chairman at Joby Aviation, highlighting his positive experience working with Eton across their 10+ year startup journey:
And this one from Debbie Markowitz, Chief Financial Officer at Spring Health:
→ You can find more client testimonials here. ←
Click here to get a free consultation with Eton Venture Services.
Why I recommend them: For their great track record in helping companies get acquired and save millions in taxes collectively.
Kruze Consulting provides comprehensive finance and accounting services to over 800 fast-growing startups in sectors like SaaS, eCommerce, biotech, and FinTech.
Kruze has helped clients secure over $12 billion in funding and $100+ million in tax credits.
Their expertise shines from pre-seed to Series C, and their clients are twice as likely to be acquired.
Kruze’s key services include interim CFO consulting, financial modeling, bookkeeping, tax returns, venture debt consulting, and fundraising advice.
Why I recommend them: Graphite Financial offers scalable and long-term CFO support from seed to exit, with high-touch, in-house-style support.
Graphite Financial specializes in fractional CFO services and financial modeling.
They pride themselves on offering scalable and long-term support from seed to exit. Over 8 years, they have guided 250 startups to countless exits and M&As.
Some of their clients include:
While they cater to startups of all sizes, their sweet spot is well-capitalized startups with product market fit.
Each startup gets a dedicated team, not just a single accountant, offering high-touch, in-house-style support.
Graphite Financial’s key fractional CFO services include CFO and fundraising, financial reporting, comprehensive bookkeeping, tax compliance, and expense detail reports.
Why I recommend them: For saving you time, money, and hassle with transparent fixed fees and fast communication.
The Rapacke Law Group specializes in intellectual property and business law for startups.
They handle various patents, trademarks, and startup legal services. The firm’s expertise spans from initial business formation to final liquidity events.
The Rapacke Law Group aims to be hassle-free with transparent fixed-fee pricing for easy budgeting and quick responses within one business day.
Their services include IP protection, legal opinions, company formation, agreements, and liability.
Interested in finding more
Why I recommend them: TechEmpower transforms ideas into web/mobile apps with custom development, AI expertise, and performance optimization through unique benchmarks.
TechEmpower transforms your startup’s innovative ideas into smart web/mobile applications.
Their team of 25 US-based engineers excels in web and mobile development, AI, big data, Java, Python, and cloud infrastructure.
TechEmpower has worked with startups of all sizes across various markets, including:
Their unique TechEmpower Web Framework Benchmarks, viewed hundreds of thousands of times by web application developers, have proved that your choice of tech impacts performance.
Their services include tech review, due diligence, and fractional CTO.
Why I recommend them: For their long and notable history, emphasizing diversity and inclusion in hiring.
Frederickson Partners helps build HR teams and hire executives for startups and unicorns.
They are a market leader, having worked with over 400 venture-funded startups in nearly three decades.
Their expertise spans various tech sectors, including internet, e-commerce, AdTech, EdTech, construction technology, Health Tech, and social media.
Known for their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, they coach clients on securing diverse executive leaders, exemplified by their DEI project for Facebook.
They offer HR Executive Search, HR Advisory Services, and Board Services.
Why I recommend them: For their track record in driving significant results from marketing campaigns.
Growth Marketing Advisors (GMA) helps founders and executives build scalable growth marketing and enterprise CRM strategies.
They specialize in high-growth ventures, particularly startups and category creators. Their clients include:
The GMA team is great at both the creative and the tech side of growth marketing, expertly managing ad servers, CRMs, and tech stacks.
Known for creating “marketing machines,” GMA delivers impressive results, such as quadrupling Time Study’s annual recurring revenue and tripling Hunterz’ return on ad spend.
They offer performance marketing, CRM database optimization, and data management.
Why I recommend them: For their expert SEO-driven content strategy and scalable system that generates high-converting inbound leads for B2B SaaS startups.
Founded by content marketer Ben Goodey, Spicy Margarita specializes in content marketing strategy and implementation for global B2B SaaS companies.
Specifically, Goodey and his team helps startups scale traffic, leads, and conversions with SEO-driven content operating systems and high-quality content.
They’ve advised B2B SaaS startups like the below on content and SEO strategy:
Goodey is also the founder and creator of the How the Fxck community where you can get podcasts, blogs, and templates on all things SEO and content.
There, you’ll also find case studies of how companies like Monday.com, SurveyMonkey, and Typeform scaled content to 1M+ traffic per month.
You can work with Goodey and his team in three key ways:
If you’re not ready for a full-on engagement, you can subscribe to his premium newsletter to get weekly emails filled with juicy podcasts, case studies, and strategy advice.
You can also choose to do a one-off purchase of his Content Scale package.
Or just connect with him on LinkedIn where he shares valuable insights regularly.
Why I recommend them: For combining experienced professionals with fresh talent to ensure efficiency and innovation.
Renovarum supports startups through every stage of their lifecycle – from business ideas to exit strategies.
With a team of multidisciplinary professionals, they address financial, strategic, accounting, and legal challenges.
Renovarum’s team has senior and younger professionals – giving a mix of experience and new ideas.
Within startup advisory, key services include drafting business plans and pitch decks, strategic advice on management control systems, and assistance in finding funding sources.
Why I recommend them: For their Vision-Led Product Management framework to build scalable, product-led businesses.
Prodify helps startup founders and CEOs build scalable, product-led businesses across B2B, B2C, and B2B2C sectors.
Their past clients include Savonix, Whoop, Pinkaloo, and Higher Logic.
Prodify developed the Vision-Led Product Management framework, detailed in their #1 Amazon bestseller “Build What Matters”.
The core concepts focus on selecting product success metrics, crafting a customer journey vision, creating a strategic plan, and developing a product roadmap.
Why I recommend them: For offering startups a one-stop cybersecurity partner with vCISO support, compliance readiness, and strategic security guidance.
BD Emerson provides startups with a comprehensive suite of cybersecurity services, including privacy, legal, and technology consulting. This integrated approach helps protect sensitive data, strengthen internal systems, and support compliance while reducing financial and reputational risk.
With over 15 years in the market and 200+ client projects completed, their team brings deep experience to every engagement.
They offer services like vCISO support, SOC 2 and HIPAA readiness, penetration testing, and privacy consulting, giving startups the structure and support they need to scale securely, meet enterprise requirements, and build customer trust.
What sets BD Emerson apart is their deep understanding of startup dynamics. Their flexible arrangements allow founders to stay focused on growing the business, while their team quietly handles the security, privacy, and compliance groundwork. It’s a structure that protects your time and momentum without sacrificing what enterprise clients and regulators expect.
An advisor for a startup provides expert guidance and support in various areas crucial for the business’s success. Here are the key responsibilities:
The compensation for startup advisors can vary widely based on factors like the advisor’s expertise, the specific services provided, the stage of the startup, and the region. Generally, startup advisors may charge:
The difference between a startup advisor and a consultant lies primarily in their roles and the nature of their engagements:
Startup Advisor:
Consultant:
In short, a startup advisor provides ongoing strategic guidance and mentorship, while a consultant offers specialized expertise for specific projects or tasks within a defined timeframe.
Schedule a free consultation meeting to discuss your M&A or valuation needs.
Chris Walton, JD, is is President and CEO and co-founded Eton Venture Services in 2010 to provide mission-critical valuations to private companies. He leads a team that collaborates closely with each client’s leadership, board of directors, internal / external counsel, and independent auditors to develop detailed financial models and create accurate, audit-ready valuations.
